Art Rust's Weekly Round Up

Darryl Strawberry
“Darryl,” the fans would scream out in Shea Stadium. “Darryl,” they would hoot, drawing the R’s in his name out as far as they could as if it were some kind of magical chant, a mantra, a love song. Every time Darryl Strawberry stepped up to the plate in baseball’s media pressure-cooker, the fans would react. Would this be a home run? Would Darryl lift his right foot off the ground as the pitch came flaming towards him and whip his bat around and under the ball to send it sailing out of the park? That’s what fans came for, the press said, to see Darryl Strawberry hit home runs. And hit them he did. Darryl led the Mets and was one of the National League leaders for every one of his eight years on the New York Mets.

Darryl’s statistics were so impressive that by the time he was only twenty-five, people were saying that he would almost surely be one of the all-time greats of the sport. That’s a tall order for anyone to fill…

After spending eleven months in jail for violating probation by getting caught with a stash of cocaine, Darryl became a free man this week. Apparently he is also cancer free. Life can throw you a curve ball from time to time and I wish Darryl all the very best…

A Baseball Snow Opener to Remember
It was opening day at home for the New York Giants as they took on the Boston Brave. On this particular occasion, April, 1935, my father and I were sitting in the right-field grandstands at the Polo Grounds. It was snowing! I had on a tan leather leggings, a navy blue pea jacket, and an Eton cap. It was Babe Ruth’s last active season in the major leagues. He was with the Boston Braves. Before that Ruth had twenty-one brilliant seasons with the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. During the flag-raising ceremonies, my father made a special point to say to me, “There he is: Babe Ruth, the ‘Bambino’, the ‘Sultan of Swat.’” My father also pointed out some of the other Braves: Shanty Hogan, Danny MacFayden, Wally Berger, and Rabbit Maranville. Then he showed me Mel Ott, Dick Bartell, Travis Jackson, Carl Hubbell, and Bill Terry on the Giants. Baseball, how I loved it!

Hideki ‘Godzilla’ Matsui
At Yankee Stadium – the Big Ball Orchard in the South Bronx - the Japanese slugger, rookie Hideki ‘Godzilla’ Matsui, hit a grand slam homerun to lead the New York Yankees over the Minnesota Twins 7 – 3. Legends continue to be made in the Bronx; with Matsui, George Steinbrenner has added another jewel to the Yankee Empire.